Please take a moment and watch this...

This is a 12 year old Canadian girl names Lia who decided to enter her school's speech contest with this speech despite the discouragement of school officials and teachers.

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Friday Jumbles

--Fav quote of the week: "Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other. -Ronald Reagan

--As a general rule I am not a procrastinator but I have finally admitted to myself that there are a couple of things that I just don't seem to want to do. Like move all of our medical records to a new doctor up here. I just HATE dealing with the office personnel at my former doctor's office so I have been acting like Scarlet Ohara..."I will just think about that tomorrow." But I only have one more month left on my prescription for the one medication I take and I have to go to a doctor. What is wrong with me??

--This weekend is The 30-Hour Famine, an initiative of World Vision, that will see about a half a million teenagers fast, pray and fundraise to raise awareness of world hunger. Funds raised by teens will go to Uganda, Zambia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, and other nations affected by famine. To read more about it, click here.

--Through the miracle of Facebook, I have reconnected with an old college friend, Lynne Beach, with whom I shared more than a few laughs. She is deliciously sarcastic-an acquired taste to be sure, but if you have hung around here for the last year and a half or so then, hello...you must have the pallet for it. Her collection of writings are funny, endearing and nostalgic. Check out her blog here.

--And finally, I am feeling a little cranky and out of sorts. NBC has been serving up warmed over episodes of The Office and it just isn't doing it for me. Is the season over?? Is it really, really over?? Does anyone know? Hello? Somebody?

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Hungry for Him

So, here we are at the beginning of Lent. Ash Wednesday was yesterday and I am sure many of you are fasting or have given up something for the next fortyish days or so. I have read a few things here and there about what people are giving up for Lent or if they see any merit at all in this practice and I have totally enjoyed hearing so many points of view on the subject. And because I am me, I, too, have an opinion and I thought I would share it.

I fast at different times throughout the year as a discipline because Jesus didn't say in his teachings, "IF you fast", but rather, "WHEN you fast". (Matt 6:16) I am not trying to sound all holy here...I hate fasting food and I have to make myself do it. But when I do, it brings a lot of junk to the surface of my life and then He can deal with me about those things. I think of it more like choosing to sit on the front row in a classroom. I am positioning myself to better hear His voice. So then when I crave food (pretty much all the time), I can immediately shift my focus to Him rather than fulfilling a fleshly urge. It is my understanding that the original intent for fasting food for Lent was because food preparation back then was very time-consuming so the idea was to devote that time to feeding your soul rather than your flesh. Again, positioning yourself to hear His voice. I don't believe it can ever be viewed as sacrifice, for what "sacrifice" could we ever give that compares with His great sacrifice. And He tells us in scripture that He does not want our sacrifices...He wants US. (Hos 6:6) No, it is about nearness to Him. It should always come back to nearness to Him.

My friends, if you are fasting for Lent or not, I hope and pray that you will consider making the discipline of fasting a part of your love life with God that happens more than once a year. Put yourself on the front row as often as possible and drink it in.

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Are You For Real?

I have been thinking about the one overriding quality that draws me to certain people, to certain blogs, to certain leaders or even churches. It would definitely have to be authenticity.

If something is authentic it is free from misrepresentation.

It is genuine.

It is real.

Things that are authentic usually are of great value because they are rare or because they bear their maker's name.

All people are valuable. Authentic people are valuable and rare and their Maker's Name is easy to see because pretense does not overshadow the work of art itself.

God, help me to be authentic. And genuine. And real. So that Your Name will be written on everything I do. And say. And touch. And so that Your Name would not be misrepresented by my life. Amen

Is this your prayer, too?

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Abundance or Scarcity...Which Do You See?

I saw in the news this past week that another bank went under. Everywhere you look the media of our nation are placing the blackest of clouds to overshadow our landscape. And if I were to adopt the attitude that the mainstream media is propagating I would be in the midst of a downward mental spiral, as so many Americans actually are right now. The 'chicken littles' are squawking all around us and most people have run indoors to avoid the chunks of sky that must inevitably be headed their way.

I know I have touched on this before, but I cannot get over how quickly we Americans swallow the doom and gloom reports and embrace a scarcity mindset. Tim Sanders wrote about this in his blog yesterday and it was an excellent post on resisting such a mindset. As Christians, we have even more reason to embrace an abundance mindset. The Scriptures are full of His promises to His people of His great provision. Yes, we need to be wise as serpents but we need not ever cross over into being as scared as chickens. And I am not living in some insulated bubble of money that makes me blind to what is true about the state of our economy. We are feeling deeply the real effects of a real recession in our own home. But I am not willing to stop living and believing and enjoying my life. We all learned in economics class that an economy is cyclical...what goes around really does come around. The roller coaster has taken many of us into a low curve but rest assured, that coaster will head back up again and the key is choosing to enjoy the whole ride with an eye towards abundance and not scarcity.

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Arriving Is A Wonder

Most pictures of Jesus that I have ever seen are pretty cheesy. But I really like this one. It is exactly where I am living right now. If there could be a drawing before this one, it would show the child on the floor at Jesus' feet, kicking and screaming and throwing a giant hissy fit. That would be exactly where I was living up until recently.

I heard someone say that a Christian should "nestle, not wrestle and snuggle, not struggle." I really like that, too. When you can cuddle up into the purpose and plan of God for your life, it is a great relief. Just like after a good cry, when your lungs are still heaving and your breathing is uneven, there is a sense of peaceful relief that settles over a surrendered will. Getting there may be a struggle, but arriving is a wonder.

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A Little Flirtation for Your Saturday

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